With a little more than a week to go until CES 2009 and arguably the most critical release in the company's history, we cannot overlook Palm's small but still news-worthy contributions to legacy Palm OS Garnet users during 2008. Regardless of what happens in 2009, for all its shortcomings OS 5.x Garnet remains a tried and true mobile OS that still enjoys a fair amount of developer, carrier, and user support. Let's take a few moments to review the most important events from Palm in what was unquestionably a transition year of carryover products and mild tweaks to existing devices.

RE: One significant omission in review

The article was actually written a few days prior to the most recent Q2 report + comments from Ed C. and co. Ryan just put it on the backburner over the holidays due to everyone having family obligations etc. We can stick in another line or two summarizing the events from the 2nd half of December to the article, no problem.

Slooooooooooooooooooooooow

It's been a long year, that's for sure. The most exciting device Palm put out wasn't even "Palm-powered" - although at least the Treo Pro finally saw them getting their hardware act together.

A Nova-powered version is something I'm very much looking forward to in '09, along with a nice variety of hardware designs. At the very least, we should see Palm put out their first large-screened phone.

RE: Is this a joke?

Me? Fanboyism? Please. Just because I still maintain that Garnet is the tried & test comfortable old shoe of mobile OSes does NOT mean that Centro Claus came to visit me for Christmas and turned me into a Palm Apologist with some magical fairy dust. As long as you don't want to do multimedia whiz-bang, fancy GPS navigating, wi-fi etc., Garnet still DOES the PIM essentials faster & better than anything else.

Yes, "fair" is a polite way of saying "it's dying but it ain't quite dead yet". Regardless, the zombiefied Garnet DOES still enjoy SOME developer support which is more than the Treo Pro can tout. Palm's sole Palm OS device, the Centro, still has the widest availability of any current Palm smartphone (regardless of OS).

RE: Is this a joke?

Garnet does not stink; it's just ancient in terms of technology years. I mostly use and develop for my iPhone now, but I still prefer using a few PalmOS PIM apps over anything I've yet found in the iPhone App Store.

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RE: Is this a joke?

No jabs at anyone from any walk of life other than whomever gave that silly Palm ad campaign the green light. Every $ available at Palm should be thrown at finishing/perfecting/starting work on Nova. Smoke & mirrors marketing and producing expensive primetime TV spots for a fast-fading, bottom-feeder product (Centro) is not the way to blaze a succcesful trail into '09.

You know, come to think of it...wouldn't it be better to jump dump the tragic LifeDrive (had you listened to my warnings in '05 you'd have realized that is a CURSED product!) and replace it with a much slimmer, swifter, reliable and utterly more useful TX instead?

And, had you paid attention to some my past ramblings, you'd know that I CONTINUE to espouse the continued robustness-nay, the continued EXCELLENCE-of Palm's PIM apps. It's sad (but also quite telling) when a Pilot 1000 from 1996 still crushes an iPhone or BB Bold/Storm etc for day to day PIM functionality and usability. Someone somewhere should award some kind of lifetime achievement award to Rob Haitani and the rest of the gang that came up with the initial Palm OS core PIM apps.

RE: Is this a joke?

RE: Is this a joke?

With all due respect, mikecane, if your assessment of Garnet is based solely upon the ability (or your claimed lack thereof) to handle a certain format of epubs, that's just, well, ridiculous.

It's like evaluating an automobile based solely upon what kind of stereo system it has.

Garnet does loads more than a Kindle -- there's a great epub handler, or an iphone, there's another one does. You can't seriously expect us to believe that this is all you want to do with these devices, can you? Dude, you need to open a book.

Harold

RE: Is this a joke?

Good point. And if we CONTINUE to use ePub as the benchmark by which all mobile devices are measured....well, I imagine it'd be easier to shoehorn ePub support into Garnet than it would be to get a couple thousand apps + media players + games etc. onto the Kindle or the Sony Reader. I think the Sony in particular is a fine e-book reader (the Kindle...not so much so) but they are dedicated devices and shouldn't be part of an apples to oranges comparison like that with PDAs/smartphones.

RE: Is this a joke?

I can't agree that Garnet stinks. It gets the job done, which is more than I can say for loads of operating systems.

NO, Garnet doesn't get the job done fanboy.

It's well known how Garnet was incapable of handling simultaneous wi-fi and phone connections or multi-tasking or umts 3G.

Palm wasn't able to produce a Palm OS smartphone with wifi or umts 3G due to Garnet's limitations.

It was this inability that pushed me from Palm OS to a WinMob phone that offered the "yes we can" approach.

I was initially skeptical about a smartphone's ability to multitask; I've since found that being able to discuss something on the phone whilst simultaneously referring to a website and/or email on the smartphone to be practical and useful.

I wasn't keen on Windows Mobile but it does what I ask of it and all of what I used to do on Garnet, I find I don't even need Styletap.

So please don't tell me how Garnet gets the job done.Garnet is way behind other current mobile operating systems in ability.

RE: Is this a joke?

To be totally fair....the CDMA Centro, since it DOES support EVDO Rev. 0, is still quite capable, though it would have only another 6-9 months TOPS to be viable on the market (and that's being generous) as a low-end smartphone based on the criteria of the "average" consumer targeted by the carriers. The GSM Centro, EDGE and all, is indeed fading fast and only really suited as a cheap freebie offering or as an ultra-cheap unlocked device for those needing to support legacy Palm OS apps.

More so than anything else, we are hearing continued rumblings that carriers don't want to have to support so many different OSes and dumping Palm OS (definitely Garnet and possibly just passing on Nova) is looking like a more and more realistic scenario with each passing day. What I think should be a justifiable concern for Palm is an utter lack of carrier interest--what if Nova DOES get completed on time and is totally gee-whiz great, stable, and all that we hope for it to be....but no carriers bite? That'll be the kiss of death for Palm.

P.S. IMO, this (not coverage or pricing) hodgepodge of carrier exclusives & CDMA vs. GSM foolishness remains the biggest problem with the fragmented domestic US wireless market: If I want handset X that is available only on carrier Y and I have carrier Z, I simply cannot have it unless I jump ship and/or sign another contract. I'd LIKE to have the coverage & flexibility of a GSM device but there is simply no getting around the fact of the superior CDMA coverage in most of the United States, especially in rural areas.

RE: Is this a joke?

I'd reply to Harold, but that Martian-to-English translation was too poor to parse into any sense.

Oh, I'm not comparing dedicated readers to Palm OS. Don't make that mistake. I'm talking about things we do here in the 21st century - like *ePub*. And having a developer base that's interested in doing 21st century things. No ePub for PalmOS = 20th century = lack of developers.

Today is the final day of my blog (thank the gods!). One post I hope to do is about Palm's upcoming OS.

Next month will be interesting. I still can't wrap my head around the idea of an "iPhone nano." Damn thing should be getting bigger for eBooks - iPod Air/iPod Touchbook - not smaller like the Playskool Centro.

RE: What about Mike Cane's predictions for the year?

That is one reason for two devices, you don't want to hold up a brick to your ear. I'd rather have a PDA and a small phone with both talking to each other seamlessly than a converged device that is too big/small with too little battery life and pricey data plans.

RE: 2009

It's like being a fan of a losing football team like mine, the Cleveland Browns. You still go to the game but you boo them because they stink. In the end you are still a fan but not happy with the team.

RE: 2009

No indifference here lizard boy. When Nova comes a rockin', they'll be no more time for knockin'. Remember, just like in hi yield bonds, "Past performance is no indication of future expectations".

It's a new day in Sunnyvale. Palmsource is a distant memory, Nagel has taken over as Senior manager of the WorldCom & Enron merger, Palm kept only the best code from Cobalt, BeOS engineering is in it's swan song behind the scenes doing miracles, the Foleo II team has worked out the final kinks, and breakthrough new designs are only 10 days out from your very eyes.Go ahead and get your iPhones, and BBs ready for eBay, because the Nova is about to explode in Vegas like Oprah's dress size. It's gonna be a wooooonderful year.

RE: 2009

How many out there really cares about Nova? This going to be up there with the Studebaker Avanti? That is the last great design for a company so screwed up in lack of vision and reputation that the market doesn't even bother.

RE: 2009

My prediction is they will get much less press than they expect. It will not be the star of the show. Everyone is wondering where Steve Jobs will be since he is not doing the keynote at MacWorld, if he shows at CES - it is face slapping time.

RE: 2009

RE: 2009 - better yet, end-of-year 2008

I care about Nova to the extent that I cared about the last Next Great Thing, the Fooleo.

I was really looking forward to that device to see what Palm had done. In fact, I'm =still= making excuses for Palm and saying things like "maybe The Next Great Thing wasn't actually the Fooleo, but the idea behind multiple communicating devices!" even though we've seen no evidence whatsoever to back up that enthusiasm...and I'm not exactly known as a Palm fanboy.

So now I'm waiting with bated breath to see Nova 'cause Colligan said it would be "breakthrough" in all its being.

------

BTW - TODAY is end-of-year. I expect Palm to uphold its promising words of "...This platform development is firmly on track to be completed by the end of this year..." and see at LEAST a PR-Fluff out of Palm noting the "event of completion" (true or not!) if not the details.

RE: 2009

RE: 2009

Oopsie! I forgot to add the aside..."I wonder if Palm dropped 'Nova' and instead quietly went with Android?"...

The latest rumor I was hearing was JavaFX.

Either Nova:1. is Palm's version of Android2. is Palm's version of JavaFX3. is the best kept secret since ... hmm ... that real alien autopsy video nobody has seen yet4. is going to be a complete dud, because anything that great wouldn't stay a secret this long

RE: Hey, lefty! KMA, baby!

Oh, a rumor. How exciting. And on a timeframe only two years behind your "predictions." Whee. I guess we can wait a year and see if you still look like as much of a loon by then; my money's on "yes", at whatever odds: you're clearly a guy who's unable to distinguish what he wishes would happen from what makes even a little bit of sense.

It's also fairly amusing to be called "unemployed" by a guy whose finances are apparently so shaky that the closest he can get to a iPhone is French-kissing the glass on the front window at the Apple Store.

If only wishing made it so, Mikey, if only wishing made it so. Baka ni tsukeru kusuri wa nai, chinpira.

RE: Hey, lefty! KMA, baby!

Aside from the playground rants, if Apple *does* release the two rumored products-an iPod Nano and a larger internet tablet-they are going to be edging in on two places that there seemed to be a bit of room for Palm. That is, the cheap smart phone and the more than phone Foleo like internet-on-the-go tablet.

It's all rumor, but it's hard to imagine Apple *not* thinking along these lines given the overwhelming success of the iPhone.

RE: Hey, lefty! FMA, baby!

Oh, a rumor. How exciting. And on a timeframe only two years behind your "predictions." Whee. I guess we can wait a year and see if you still look like as much of a loon by then; my money's on "yes", at whatever odds: you're clearly a guy who's unable to distinguish what he wishes would happen from what makes even a little bit of sense.

It's also fairly amusing to be called "unemployed" by a guy whose finances are apparently so shaky that the closest he can get to a iPhone is French-kissing the glass on the front window at the Apple Store.

Mike Cane "French-kissing the glass on the front window at the Apple Store." What a disgusting image. The idea of this greasy, dishevelled, ranting lunatic being allowed out of its hovel long enough to get close to the public is downright creepy.

Despite this, even a stopped clock is right twice daily. Ms. Cane has made so many "predictions" (actually W.A.G.s) that sooner or later one was destined to be correct. (Give an infinite number of Make Canes an infinite number of typewriters and eventually they will spew out something correct.)

RE: Hey, lefty! KMA, baby!

Apple's strategy since forever has been to sell their laptops at vastly inflated prices by pretending to be superior to all that Windows rubbish. Why would they undermine themselves and start selling cheap netbooks now, when they have their Macbook Air selling decently (for Apple) @ $1799?

RE: Hey, lefty! LMA, baby!

Apple's strategy since forever has been to sell their laptops at vastly inflated prices by pretending to be superior to all that Windows rubbish. Why would they undermine themselves and start selling cheap netbooks now, when they have their Macbook Air selling decently (for Apple) @ $1799?

It's all about stratification and differentiation. Apple are masters at avoiding cannibalization of their cash cows by bring out Rabid Mad Cow products like the Palm Centro. Every Apple product is priced, featured and promoted to fill a very precise market niche.

The iPhone Netbook is not a MacBook. It is an iPhone with a keyboard and a slightly bigger screen. It runs iPhone (not Mac desktop) applications. It syncs wirelessly and seamlessly with a Mac Desktop and Apple webspace; it can easily remotely control a Mac desktop. People that own a MacBook will also buy an iPhone Netbook, while people that would never have considered buying a MacBook will buy an iPhone Netbook. Once brought into the Apple "Collective", new iPhone Netbook owners will be more amenable to buying other overpriced boutique Apple products like the MacBooks. Win. Win.

The iPhone Netbook is what the Palm Foleo could have been. In 2006. Ask Ben Combee what was happening with the Foleo and you'll understand why the iPhone Netbook, iPhone and iPod Touch are so important to Apple. Mac desktops and laptops are the past. Even Apple has long since realized that they cannot forever run from the reality that the presense of increasingly sophisticated, inexpensive + small ASUS, Samsung, Dell, etc hardware have resulted in the commodification of the laptop/desktop market. (Compare a $499 Samsung NC10 to the $1800 MacBook you referenced, for example.) Without proprietary services and a cohesive platform, Apple would be as dead as Palm is now, albeit 5 or 6 years later.

Palm had all of the pieces several years ago to leverage email and services as a means of differentiation and to reinvent its business model. Instead they chose the status quo and living from quarter to quarter. Palm's leadership has been remarkably incompetent for almost a decade and have plundered + run the company into the ground. As the Good Reverend once said, "Palm's chickens are coming home... to roost".

Palm is DEAD

Wake up, people. Look around you. There are about 10 people posting here at Palminfocenter. Most other Palm OS fan sites besides Treocentral are either already dead or are dying.

A few questions to start off 2009:

1) Where is the new Palm OS, code named Nova?

Answer: See Copeland, BeOS, Cobalt, Palm Linux, ALP OS, Foleo OS.

2)Who will buy Palm?

Answer: WHY would any company buy Palm?

3) Where are all the Cobalt devices that we were promised several years ago?

Answer: In NeverNeverLand.

4) Where are all the ALP OS devices that were supposdly coming out last year?

Answer: In NeverNeverLand. Even the gullible Samsung realized that ALP OS was about to become a massive FAIL, and wisely pulled the plug on their ALP OS phone - even though it was ready to be released.

7) How severe has Palm's loss in marketshare and revenue become over the past year?

Answer: Fatal. Without another massive injection of capital, Palm will go out of business in 2009.

8) What is Elevation Partners planning to do?

Answer: They will take Palm private within one quarter and then flip the company.

9) What is Google planning to do?

Answer: Buy marketshare.

10) Will Android succeed?

Answer: Yes. The release of better quality hardware in form factors like the Palm Centro, HTC Touch Pro and Apple iPhone will siphon marketshare from Palm OS, Blackberry and Windows Mobile.

11) What is Microsoft planning to do?

Answer: Tie in Microsoft Exchange to smother Blackberry and tie in Microsoft Office wireless synchronization to smother Google and Apple.

12) What is RIM planning to do?

Answer: Gain critical mass in order to protect a suspect infrastructure and a very vulnerable business model. Expect much flashier hardware designed to appeal more to individual customers rather than corporate clients.

RE: Palm is DEAD

RE: Palm is DEAD

With Palm about to go teats up, these must be good times for you, hengeem. You've waited a long time for the opportunity to revel in the sounds of Palm's death rattle. Enjoy the sweet taste of revenge, Baka Boy. Giggle.

RE: Palm is DEAD

As someone who was so staggeringly wrong about the iPhone it's odd to see you still haven't learned your lesson.

The iPhone Netbook has a keyboard, does cut + paste and will cost less than a Treo Pro. Keep clinging to your guns, religion and defective Copper Treo 680 in that bomb (bum?) shelter that you and Mike Cane share together.

RE: How Palm Could Lose Everything

1) Do YouTube Mobile2) how many mobile platforms that don't suck run flash again? (Well, soon Android will, but it doesn't yet.)3) Can do twitter (with a Java app)4) can do blog posts (with cellspin and plogit)5) can do flickr and picassa among others (with cellspin)6) can install apps over bluetooth or via the internet7) well, I can't download music, but some ebooks if in the right format can be downloaded, and I definitely can and do read ebooks on it8) DRM?

So what *are* you talking about, you're aware that this is a Palm board, aren't you? ;-)

P.S. You probably wouldn't have had to FIRE so many good people if you actually had the SLIGHTEST CLUE how to actually run a company or if you ever bothered to actually LISTEN to those of us who have been trying to pry your FAT GREASY FINGERS off the self-destruct button at Palm HQ for the past 3 years. TTFN, Sweetie.

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